Sebastian Coe

At last Lord Coe can justifiably claim to be on the front foot: he wanted Russia suspended following Dick Pound’s hugely damaging report and by 22 votes to one he has got it through the IAAF’s council. It was also interesting to hear Coe’s language after the vote, which was notably more direct than in recent weeks. The “whole system” had failed athletes, he said, before admitting: “This has been a shameful wake-up call.” It is too early to say whether this marks a new, braver Coe, who wants to change the IAAF and tackle anti-doping, or whether he is playing to the gallery. But it is a small start.

Athletics governing body suspends Russia from all competitions

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IAAF

The IAAF’s decision to temporarily suspend Russia is welcome for an organisation which has been rocked by allegations in recent months. Make no mistake: if athletics’ governing body had ducked this challenge then many would have lost hope but this is only a temporary reprieve. French police have placed several former senior IAAF figures under investigation for corruption – including the former IAAF president Lamine Diack, the former head of anti-doping Gabriel Dollé, and Habib Cissé, a legal director to Diack. Meanwhile the report of the IAAF’s ethics commission, which is likely to ban Dollé, Cissé, and several other IAAF members for life is due in December. It is not out of the woods yet. Not by a long chalk.

Pragmatism saves Russia from greater punishment after doping scandal

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Russia

Russia’s suspension takes effect immediately, which means its athletes are barred from all competitions until the country is considered to have put its house in order. But the Russian sports minister, Vitaly Mutko, on Friday insisted the IAAF had “hidden 155 test results since 2008, with Russian athletes involved in only 15 of those cases” – a sign Russia will still fight its case aggressively.

International Olympic Committee

The IOC president, Thomas Bach, is already on record saying he expects Russia will take steps to ensure it complies with anti-doping rules in time to allow its athletes to compete in Rio. Given the importance of Russia to the Games – both financially and historically – it would be a major surprise if they were absent from the track and field competition. Meanwhile other questions need answering. The IOC is supposed to be the overriding body of Olympic sport but has it done enough to ensure that its sports are clean? Given the problems in athletics, along with rumours of doping in swimming and other summer and winter Olympic sports, should it be scrutinising the small amount it gives the World Anti-Doping Agency?

The World Anti-Doping Agency

The IAAF’s decision is a personal vindication for Dick Pound – the head of the independent commission into Russian doping set up by Wada – who called for the Russian athletics federation to the suspended, citing evidence of corruption and collusion of Russian officials in covering up positive doping tests. But Pound’s report highlighted that Wada has been too much of a box-ticking agency over the past decade, rather than getting stuck in to the widespread problems of drug-taking in sport. In the views of anti-doping experts there are other countries Wada should be looking much closer at, including Kenya, Jamaica, Ethiopia and Turkey. And questions will also be asked why Wada’s president, Craig Reedie, was so friendly with Mutko earlier this year, given the seriousness of the accusations against Russia.